Sunday, June 20, 2010

Stephen Harper: Dragging Canada Backwards

It's taken a while - far too long, IMO, but the press in this country is starting to realize just what Harper's been up to since day one:

Travers: Changing Canada, one backward step at a time

Imagine a country where Parliament is padlocked twice in 13 months to frustrate the democratic will of the elected majority. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that slyly relaxes environmental regulations even as its neighbour reels from a catastrophic oil leak blamed on slack controls. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that boasts about prudent financial management while blowing through a $13-billion surplus on the way to a $47-billion deficit. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where a political operative puts fork-tongued words in a top general’s mouth. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that refuses to fund the same safe abortions to poor women abroad as it provides at home. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where the national police commissioner skews a federal election and is never forced to explain. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that writes a covert manual on sabotaging Commons committees. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country dragging its climate change feet as the true north melts. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that silences political debate on the sale of a publicly owned, crown jewel corporation. That country is now this country.

Published On Sat Jun 19 2010

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By James Travers National Affairs Columnist

Imagine a country where Parliament is padlocked twice in 13 months to frustrate the democratic will of the elected majority. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that slyly relaxes environmental regulations even as its neighbour reels from a catastrophic oil leak blamed on slack controls. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that boasts about prudent financial management while blowing through a $13-billion surplus on the way to a $47-billion deficit. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where a political operative puts fork-tongued words in a top general’s mouth. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that refuses to fund the same safe abortions to poor women abroad as it provides at home. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where the national police commissioner skews a federal election and is never forced to explain. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that writes a covert manual on sabotaging Commons committees. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country dragging its climate change feet as the true north melts. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that silences political debate on the sale of a publicly owned, crown jewel corporation. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that puts higher priority on building super-prisons than keeping people out of them. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where parties that win the most federal seats are dismissed as “losers”. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that twists its foreign policy around the interests of another nation. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that argues that barricading its largest city promotes tourism. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that promises Senate reform only to continue stuffing it with political hacks. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that avoids answers about a controversial war by accusing questioners of supporting the enemy. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where party apparatchiks decide who in a nominally free press is allowed to ask the Prime Minister questions. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where donut shop wisdom is more prized than expert analysis. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that builds a fake lake for a tough-times summit. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that preaches law and order while killing a long-gun registry police chiefs insist makes citizens safer. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where serving the Prime Minister as chief propagandist is job preparation for running a national news network. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where charities mute constructive criticism of public policy for fear of losing federal funding. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that can spend $1.2 billion for summit security but can’t find the petty cash needed to invest in the status of women. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that promises accountability only to impose secrecy. That country is now this country.

Every example is familiar, all are documented. Only the cumulative effect is surprising.


Think about it ...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yawn! This is Jim Travers. What did you expect?

MgS said...

@Anonymous:

I find it a sad statement that you attack the source, rather than addressing the issues.

evilscientist said...

Tories always attack the source, since they have nothing to attack the issues with. Harper and his supporters ran out of script years ago and are now lurching from self created crisis to self created crisis.

Anonymous said...

The mouth breather at 6:08 is obviously incapable of independent thought.

More than likely an unpaid, low brow, minion, doing Harper's bidding.

SB

The Invisible Hand said...

Imagine a country where Parliament is padlocked twice in 13 months to frustrate the democratic will of the elected majority. That country is now this country.

Which is why Parliament proved that the Harper government was violating their democratic will by voting non-confidence in him both times... Whoops, nevermind.

Imagine a country that refuses to fund the same safe abortions to poor women abroad as it provides at home. That country is now this country.

That country has always been this country. Harper's stance on this merely preserved the status quo; he declined to start a brand new program to have Canadian taxpayers fund Third World abortions (even though Michael Ignatieff woke up one morning and decided he really, really wanted one).

Imagine a country where the national police commissioner skews a federal election and is never forced to explain. That country is now this country.

Yeah, curse those election-skewing, police-manipulating New Democrats!

Imagine a country that writes a covert manual on sabotaging Commons committees. That country is now this country.

You mean "Imagine a country where all parties engage in shenanigans to make Commons committees go their way, but only one has their tactics leaked out."

Imagine a country where parties that win the most federal seats are dismissed as “losers”. That country is now this country.

Except that parties that win 77 or 37 seats are losers compared to one that wins 143.

Imagine a country that twists its foreign policy around the interests of another nation. That country is now this country.

Curse that warmongering Barack Obama! We should oppose everything he does!

Imagine a country that promises Senate reform only to continue stuffing it with political hacks. That country is now this country.

Imagine a columnist who opposes elected Senators, and then whines when unelected ones are appointed instead.

Imagine a country that boasts about prudent financial management while blowing through a $13-billion surplus on the way to a $47-billion deficit. That country is now this country.

Well, stimulus spending is a complete waste of money, so unfortunately, he's right about this one. ;)

MgS said...

@"Invisible Hand":

If you can't see proroguing parliament to escape a confidence vote as a gross breach of parliamentary process and democracy, then I don't know what to say.

Vis a vis abortion funding - thanks for spouting the PMO talking point. Sadly, it's a talking point and lacks any other substance. Harper is explicitly excluding abortion, which aligns him with GWB. In the past, Canada's policy did not specifically exclude (and therefore deny funding to NGOs which include)

You've obviously forgotten about the 2006 election. (how convenient)

As for Harper's 'How To Sabotage Parliament' manual, all I can say is that it's beyond disgusting and reinforces my impression of the HarperCon$ as power-hungry totalitarian wannabes. (and fits in with Harper's prorogation tactics)

re: Senators - It was Harper who swore up and down repeatedly that he'd never appoint a Senator without an election. Welcome to being held accountable for your political legacy, Mr. Harper.

re: Minority Parliaments - Apparently you don't understand something. The HarperCon$ won the most seats, yes. But they did not win a majority. If the other parties band together to form a coalition, that's perfectly legitimate. Harper's language of "losers" sounds like juvenile schoolyard taunting.

re: Finances - Harper burned through the surplus in the first couple of years - before the meltdown. Given the chicanery that we are seeing out of this government, I can only imagine how much of the deficit spending is going to line the pockets of HarperCon$ party supporters. (after all, Harper's been soooooo transparent and accountable.

Anonymous said...

And yet another Harper troll (The Invisible Hand), what a fitting name..... being controlled by a hand (Harper) that you can't see.

Quit spreading the same LIES that Harper has been spouting. Do some research next time before you decide to post at a site where you are going to get called out on your lies.

SB

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